


Long Time Going

by Hawkscape



Series: Redtail Tales [11]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Anger, Dissociation, F/M, Friendship/Love, Identity, Identity Reveal, Laughter, Lies, Lost Love, Memories, Memory Alteration, Nervousness, Revenge, Secrets, Tension, Threats, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 07:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11413299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkscape/pseuds/Hawkscape
Summary: Jenny survived Eddie Winter's bullets and the end of the world, but can she survive Redtail trying to reunite her with the robot using her dead fiancé's name?Or, alternatively:What if Nick was killed in the drive-by instead of Jenny?





	1. Pre-War Customs

The war had taken a lot of things from Jenny. It had taken her skin, her life, her friends and family. The only thing that had not been taken from her by the war was her fiancé. No… He had been taken from her before the bombs fell. She couldn't go out and shoot the men responsible for destroying the world, but she could still shoot the man that had destroyed her world. The longer time went on, the more the old world seemed to hang on, and one of those things that had hung on was Eddie Winter. Notorious mob boss, patsy for the cops, murderer of the last good thing she ever had. 

Like everyone else in her old life, Jenny had assumed that he had died with the bombs, but apparently the same ghoulification that had saved her life had also prolonged his. As she trekked through the Commonwealth towards her destination she got some solace in the fact that it wouldn't be prolonged for much longer. 

She people-watched and eavesdropped and gathered that he was still alive and laying low somewhere. Something about holotapes being scattered like breadcrumbs. She honestly didn't have much to go on, but her grudge had sustained her this long; it would hold out until she got something more concrete. She would question everyone she came across if it meant getting Winter. She knew it wouldn't bring Nick back, but this quest for vengeance had been the first thing she had felt truly and strongly since the bombs had fallen. She was going to see it through. 

She might need some help though. Which was the reason she had wandered into the town of Good Neighbour, legendary haunt of the famous Sole Survivor. Cleanser of the Commonwealth, angel of death, person currently passed out on the Mayor's couch. She adjusted her gun strap and looked over at the ghoulified mayor who was swaggering over to their prone form. 

“Aye. Red. Geddup, ya’ got an adoring fan what wants your help.” Red groaned slightly. Hancock kicked the couch and jostled them violently. “WAKE UP!” Red flopped upright and opened their eyes. Mismatched orbs and hair looking almost like devil horns struck quite a picture. 

They locked eyes with Jenny and their pupils went wide. “Oh shit!” They tried to scramble off the couch and grab for the side table, falling onto the floor gracelessly. “Hancock, I don't even have my face on yet.” Hancock seemed unmoved by their plight, just watching with a crooked smile as they scrambled to put on their sunglasses and hat. 

They finally stood up and dusted themselves off, clearing their throat. They made their way over to Jenny. They wiped one of their gloved hands off on their pants and held it out to shake. “Name’s Redtail, what can I do for ya, doll?” Jenny froze at the nickname. It touched too close to the reason she was here. It made her think of Nick. Red immediately sensed her tension and backed off. “Oh geez, I’m sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.” 

Jenny shook her head and returned the handshake. “It’s fine. Call me Jenny.” 

Red went back to their thousand-watt smile. “Well, what can I do ya’ for, Jenny?” Jenny hadn't believed the reports about this guy coming from pre-war, but the way they talked, she could definitely see it. 

She reached into one of her pockets and pulled out an old newspaper clipping. “I need your help to find someone.” She handed over the newspaper clipping. “His name is Eddie Winter. He probably looks very different now, but I was hoping you could help.” Red’s whole posture seemed to shift as she made her request. “I can pay you whatever you want.” Jenny wouldn't pretend that it had been easy, but 200 years of doing odd jobs had given her quite the nest egg to splurge on whatever she wanted. And she wanted Winter dead more than anything. 

Red licked their lips nervously before shifting back into a smile. “What exactly do you want him for?” Jenny made to brush them off but they continued. “Don't be coy, I’m not above killing, I just wanna know. Call it curiosity.” 

Something about this kid made her want to tell them everything. Probably that pre-war charm lulling her into a sense of safety she hadn't had in a lifetime. Worst case scenario, she would have to hire someone that was the second best. “I want to kill him. Painfully if possible.” 

Red didn't seem shocked by this revelation. “Got any reason? Steal your brahman? Run over your dog?” 

“He killed my fiancé.” Red didn't seem to be expecting that and all color drained from their face. 

They looked down at the newspaper clipping and started to mutter under their breath. “Damn, this guy sure gets around.” Jenny raised her lack of an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. The gears in their head seemed to be turning and they turned their attention back to the ghoul. “You pre-war?” 

“Obviously.” What were they getting at? 

“And your name is Jennifer Lands?” Her eyes narrowed and she backed up. 

“I never told you my full name.” They were one wrong move away from her pulling her sidearm. 

Red put up their hands peacefully. “Whoa, wait this is…” Red seemed to think again and licked their lips nervously once more. “What was your fiancé's name?” 

She looked between the cowboy and the Mayor that was eavesdropping not-so-inconspicuously by the window. “... Nick Valentine.” 

Red got an expression that looked like they had been punched. “Oh my god.” 

The formerly silent Mayor had a look similar as he turned more fully towards them. “Wait you…?” 

The two of them looked at her in shock, but didn't move to do anything. Red shook their head. “How did Winter kill your fiancé?” 

Jenny didn't know what was going on here. “You're not telling me something.” 

Red took off their glasses and fiddled with them, looking at her with undeniably honest eyes. “Please. I need to be sure about something first.” 

Jenny grimaced. She hadn't told anyone about this since Nick’s co-workers questioned her after the event from the hospital room. “He was a detective trying to put Eddie Winter away for good. We were standing on the sidewalk together and someone drove by. They shot at us. Shot us. At me. My wounds were superficial, but I passed out. His weren't as superficial and he did a little more than faint. The hospital separated us before we knew what had happened. Something about him signing away his body for research after death. I wanted to stop it, but we weren't officially married yet, so I didn't have any power.” 

She was about to go on, but Red interrupted her. “And Eddie Winter got a deal, effectively shutting down Operation Winter's End forever. Along with any hope you had of pre-war justice.” 

Jennifer stuffed the page roughly into her pocket while narrowing her eyes at them. “You going to explain yourself or just spouting some more cryptic bullshit you shouldn't know?” Her hand was starting to twitch nearer to her gun. The Mayor seemed to notice and tense up almost imperceptibly in response, but the cowboy either didn't notice or didn't see her as a threat. 

Red wrung their hands together while showing no other signs of nervousness. “I want to Jen, I really do, but you would not believe me. Have you ever been to Diamond City?” She was getting sick of them asking seemingly unrelated questions. Red moved sharply, nearly crackling with nervous energy as they hit themselves in the head. “No of course you haven't, you're a ghoul. Oh my god.” They started to chew slightly on a few of their fingers through their gloves. 

Jenny turned to address the Mayor. “Mister Mayor, since Scarlet here seems to be having a fit, can you explain what all this is about before I go someone that actually makes sense to track down Winter.” 

Hancock looked sharply between Jennifer and Redtail a few times with a look of clear conflict. “I… It’s really not my place.” 

Red snapped out of their worrying seemingly with a plan and stepped closer to Jenny. “Look. Eddie Winter hasn't become as forgotten as you think in 200 years. I have a partner that's pretty much the leading authority on his past, present, and future misdeeds. He's in Diamond City and before we go after Winter we need to go meet with him.” Red hoped that this was close enough to the truth to make Jennifer believe them. 

Jenny looked them up and down skeptically while the Mayor stood as tightly as a bow string. “Why couldn't you just say that?” 

Red shrugged. “It was just a little shocking that you were interested in it. Not to mention it's pretty sketchy of me to insist that we go to the biggest anti-ghoul city in the Commonwealth to solve your problem.” Jenny looked a little less on edge and Hancock relaxed in kind. “Look, I know I haven't given you much reason to trust me in the last five minutes, but that's just what I'm asking you to do if we're going to do this.” Red held out a hand for a handshake. “Please.” 

Saying please and thank you and using handshakes to seal deals were things Jenny hadn't thought about much in the past 200 years. A lot of things just stopped or fell out of style after the bombs fell. She hadn't noticed this was one of them until this moment faced with an overly honest but somehow still lying cowboy. She grabbed their hand and shook it decisively. “I think I can handle it. Just lead the way Scarlet.” 

Red took their hand back sharply and clapped. “Great! I have a mask that would look perfect on you.” They quickly strutted off to their bag in the corner of the room, digging through it. 

Jenny looked at them slightly skeptical before turning to the mayor who was now back to being laidback. “They really pre-war?” 

Hancock grinned crookedly. “You really Jennifer Lands?” 

Jenny felt a pang of unease as she scrunched up her face and turned back to Red surveying a mask covered with tinted glass. She hoped whatever she was missing didn't kill her before she figured it out.


	2. Post-War Remains

Red’s nervous fidgeting seemed to only increase as they made their way with relatively little issue through the streets of Diamond City. The masked ghoul tried to not let it affect them but it was beginning to put them on edge. Whoever this mystery winter aficionado was she hoped he would also be able to clear up the other inconsistencies about all this. That is...if this Redtail wasn't actually personally leading them into an ambush orchestrated by Eddie Winter himself. She wasn't lying when she said she could handle herself. Even so, she couldn't help but hope for a simply resolution and explanation to all this but lord knows her life was anything but simple. 

Jenny came up behind them slowly. “We almost there? I think that lady few buildings back suspects something.” 

Red jumped slightly at their sudden speech. “Eh? Oh, uh, it’ll be fine, we're nearly there. It's just…” They turned a corner and they suddenly seemed to stand up straighter. “Ah, good. Were here.” They started swaggering towards the nearest building marked with a neon sign while muttering to themselves about being horrible with directions. Jenny’s eyes were locked on said sign as she felt bolted in place. Was it just a coincidence? Was this place some kind of flower shop or candy store? Did people still even celebrate valentine's day? She quickly shook her head and followed behind the cowboy. 

As she shut the door behind herself she turned to see Red looking around nervously. She couldn't see any obvious traps around. Red walked behind her to lock the door before looking around some more, as if they had expected someone to be here. “Feel free to take off your mask. I need to go see where my partners got up to. I’ll be right back.” As they disappeared into a backroom Jenny figured that a city full of bigots was currently low on her list of imminent threats. She heard some voice from the next room over before Red emerged once again, followed by a torn-up-looking synth. If everything wasn't so weird and tense she would have laughed at how much he looked like an old pulp detective. Red motioned to Nick. “Here's the guy. Prime Eddie Winter authority.” 

He held out his hand to shake. She took it readily. 

“The name’s Nick Valentine.” 

“I’m Jennifer Lands.” 

At the same moment they both jerked their hands back as if they had been shocked. They both said in unison. “No, you’re not.” 

If Jenny thought the tension in the mayor's office was bad, this was ten times worse. This thing was Nick Valentine? How dare this tinker toy use her fiancé's name. Playing dress up just to toy with her like this. 

Nick's eyes shifted between her and their partner. “My apologies, I don't know what my partner has told you but-” 

Jenny was tired of this. Tired of these shady people beating around the bush and playing with things long since dead. She drew her gun and pointed it vaguely at both of the offending parties. “How fucking dare you use his name! You’re working for Eddie Winter, aren't you? Trying to fuck with me. This is low even for him. Tell me the truth now or I am shooting both of you.” Tears of hot anger were starting to prick at her eyes. The mechanical impostor put his hands up immediately and Red did so more hesitantly. Nick seemed to turn to look expectantly at Red. 

Red blanched. “Why are you looking at me? I brought her here so you could explain things to her.” 

Nick looked between the two of them again. “If that's really Jenny, then I think you know more about all this then I apparently do.” 

Jennifer stepped closer threateningly. “Don't say my name like you know me, synth! Explain now!” 

Red took a deep breath before speaking more calmly than Jennifer had seen them in the entirety of their equations. “About 200 years ago Eddie Winter sent a shooter to kill the leading detective on his case. He missed the shot and killed her fiancé instead. Stricken with grief, the detective went to an agency called the Institute to get a brain scan and deal with his problems. Fast forward, that brain scan got put into a prototype synth. That's how he remembers what happened anyway. You, however, seem to diverge a little. Saying that it was actually him who got killed in the shootout before getting carted off to some shadow agency in his last moments. I think what happened was probably something in between. Both of you got shot, Nick died, but before he did his brain was scanned by the Institute. Remembering your own death or near enough to it probably didn't make for very stable brain scans, meaning they probably embellished it a little on Nick's end. Ta-da. Here we are.” 

Finally. Some answers. Even if she didn't believe them, it was still something. She motioned at the robot with her gun. “They telling the truth?” 

The synth shrugged. “The parts involving me are true. At least as far as I can tell.” 

She sneered. This thing didn't look like Nick. It didn't even sound like Nick. So how in the two minutes of meeting this thing had its speech and little mannerisms given her flashbacks of more than 200 years of seeing that same Eddie Winter newspaper every time she turned around? She stepped closer to Nick, focusing her aggression more on him. “Bullshit. It's all bullshit.” Her voice didn't crack, but it was close. From this close she was sure his glowing eyes could see hers glossing over. 

He didn't flinch away from looking her in the eyes. “Office Christmas party 2075. You got on stage in the auditorium where it was hosted and proposed for the fifth time to me after I thought the first four times were jokes. You never let me live it down.” 

Jenny felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She stumbled backwards and held her gun limply at her side. Why? Who would have known that? Recorded that? Why? Why was this happening? 

Nick put his hands down slowly. “Do you want a chair?” 

Jenny was completely zoned out trying to process everything. This synth was Nick. He was dead but… not completely? Not really? 

Nick pulled over a chair for her anyway and gently maneuvered her into it. She flinched slightly at his touch, but didn't do more than stare blankly up at his grim face. He started to talk to Redtail but she couldn't focus on their words at first. They seemed to fade in and out. 

“...-id they wanted to kill Eddie Winter.” 

“Ulterior mot-...” 

“...-elieve her? I thin-...” 

She didn't know how long it has been before she noticed the detective was talking directly to her. “-ou okay? Do you need some water?” 

She blinked and tried to clear her mind. She shook her head and finally holstered her gun where it had been hanging limply at her side. “I’m not fine, but I don't need any water.” 

Nick nodded and smiled reassuringly. It should have looked grotesque with all the holes in his face but… she had long forgotten what Nick's real face looked like. “Good. This is probably a really large shock to you. I’m sorry this couldn't have happened under better circumstances.” He made a very pointed look at the cowboy who was standing somewhere behind Jenny. 

She suddenly snarled. “I’m not one of your damn clients, Nick, don't treat me like one. It’s patronizing.” 

Nick backed off slightly. “Sorry. She always did hate it when I slipped into that tone with her. I mean you did.” He shook his head. “Look, I’m not in a position to be suspicious of you, but is there some way you could tell me something you remember too?” 

As if Jenny didn't turn to thoughts of Nick to keep her going every time she thought about giving up in a radioactive ditch somewhere. “Before we started dating you would leave flowers on my desk. You thought I hated them because I kept throwing them out, but really I was just allergic to flowers.” 

Nick gave an unexpected and sudden laugh. “I- I had actually forgotten that that happened.” He looked at her again and turned serious. “I guess I always did wonder how Old Nick died. Maybe something in me really didn't want to find out.” His eyes turned sad. “I’m not the man that died 200 years ago, Jenny. I’m just a copy someone made. I’m… different. I’m not him and I can't be him. I’m sorry.” 

There was a beat of tense silence before it was Jenny’s turn to laugh, even if it was a bit more hysterical than normal. “I'm not exactly the same as I was 200 years ago either Nicky, if you couldn't tell. I’m pretty sure I wouldn't even recognize myself. I’m just...I’m glad there's anything of him left at all.” 

Nick smiled. “Even in my grief I think maybe part of me was always glad you never had to go through this. If it's one or the other though, I’m going to be a bit selfish and say I’m glad you're alive too. Though I have to confess, I already beat you to the revenge for the murdered fiancé thing.” 

Her eyes widened. “You already…? Eddie Winter…?” 

He shrugged like he was almost embarrassed. “Yeah. Sorry I robbed you of that. Me and Red tracked him down a while ago and made him pay.” He got a funny smile on his face. “I think his body’s still in his old bunker if you want to go desecrate it some more to make up for it.” 

Jenny looked scandalized, but she couldn't help but laugh at the grim humor. “Nick!” 

Nick shrugged again. “What? First date in 200 years, I figure I should make it something special.” Jenny stopped laughing and Nick immediately backpedaled. “I was just funning you, kid, I don't expect-” 

She smiled softly, probably for the first time since the bombs fell. “It's a start.” 

He returned a smile as Red excused themselves out of the office to leave the two to talk over all that had happened in their 200 years apart. They let out a large breath they didn't realize they had been holding as they leaned against the door. Ellie was going to be in for a shock when she got back from her lunch break to Takahashi's. Red figured maybe they should go prepare them. They also hadn't eaten since this whole things started, but that was beside the point.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to drop me a line!  
> http://hawkscape.tumblr.com/  
> https://www.youtube.com/c/HawkScape  
> http://hawkscape.deviantart.com/


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